In SheThePeople's signature style, this is a session of wit and grace.

Bangalore Raani is a vibrant celebration placing female voices precisely where they've always belonged: centerstage. Unapologetic and electric, this dialogue brings together women whose presence, choices, and courage bring Bengaluru to life. In this edition, Shaili Chopra is joined by mother and daughter, Yasmin and Kubbra Sait.

Through candid storytelling that moves from ambition to reinvention, relationships to those small everyday rebellions that shift culture, the conversation flows freely: sometimes hilarious, always real. Relatable yet aspirational, intimate yet energizing, this is the rare space where women's stories don't just resonate, but reverberate through lingering conversations, lasting inspiration and undeniable connection as a result of being deeply, and truly, seen.

In collaboration with:

Shethepeople

In this episode of BIC Talks, Kubbra Sait and Yasmin Sait will be in conversation with Shaili Chopra. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Feb 2026.

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Once known as a garden city and a pensioner's paradise, Bengaluru has undergone extraordinary economic and demographic change over the past three decades. While growth has brought opportunity, it has also reshaped everyday life in ways that go far beyond traffic and waste. This second edition of The Bengaluru Debates turns a critical lens on our city to ask whether it still supports healthy lives for its citizens.

Public health research increasingly shows that the roots of urban ill-health lie not only in hospitals or clinics, but in planning, infrastructure, and governance. Air quality, water and sanitation, food systems, mobility, housing design, open spaces, and access to light and ventilation all shape how healthy a city allows its people to be. Yet these questions rarely enter public debate in Bengaluru.

Opening with a short context setting, the session will move into a panel discussion between Dinesh Gundu Rao, Hon'ble Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Government of Karnataka; Dr. C N Ashwath Narayan, Former Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka and Member of the Legislative Assembly for Malleshwaram; Dr. Shreelata Rao Seshadri, Professor and Director, Ramalingaswami Centre for Equity and Social Determinants of Health, Public Health Foundation of India(PHFI). Moderated by Srikanth Viswanathan, CEO, Janaagraha, the panel will reflect on the relationship between the health of a city and the that of its citizens: what Bengaluru must rethink to secure a healthier future. The session will also include a talk by Nachiket Mor, Economist & Health Systems Researcher.

The discussion will be followed by an audience Q&A.

The Bengaluru Debates: A BIC–Janaagraha Dialogue Series on Urban Governance in Bengaluru and Beyond aims to expand civic space in the city by fostering conversations through a civic lens. The series is designed to be informative, constructive, and entertaining, while also serving as a trigger for local community action. Its objective is to bridge the gap between policy, practice, and public discourse on urban governance challenges, and to catalyse citizen and policymaker engagement towards systemic solutions.

In collaboration with:

Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, founded in 2001 in Bengaluru, is dedicated to transforming the quality of life in India's cities and towns. Their mission is to strengthen the systems of urban governance so that cities can deliver clean, green, safe, and liveable environments for all citizens. For them, "quality of life" is not only about infrastructure and services, but equally about responsive institutions, citizen engagement, and transparent, data-driven governance.

In this episode of BIC Talks, Dinesh Gundu Rao, C N Ashwath Narayan, Shreelata Rao Seshadri and Nachiket Mor will be in conversation with Srikanth Viswanathan. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jan 2026.

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Dharma is difficult to translate, and even harder to understand.

In this talk, scholar Frederick Smith draws on nearly five decades of study to illuminate how the concept of dharma moves, shifts, and comes alive across the subcontinent. By tracing regional retellings of the Mahabharata, he reveals how different communities have interpreted its moral tensions. Turning to modern literature such as U.R. Ananthamurthy's Samskara, he connects these ancient debates to contemporary questions of responsibility, community, and moral action. With clarity and depth, Smith examines how ideas of dharma and adharma operate in the Sanskrit Mahabharata and how these ideas ripple outward into contemporary India.

A Q&A with the audience will follow, offering space for reflection and dialogue.

In this episode of BIC Talks, Fredrick Smith delivers a talk. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Dec 2025.

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Overwhelmed? Disoriented? Exhausted?

In this reflective session, Dr. Shyam Bhat draws on his expertise in psychiatry and integrative medicine to unpack the rising sense of disorientation shaped by hyperconnection, constant noise, and emotional overload. He explores how these forces fracture our inner clarity, and offers practical ways to rebuild a steadier sense of purpose. Drawing from both clinical experience and contemplative traditions, Dr. Bhat charts a path toward reconnecting with our values and rediscovering direction in an increasingly fast-paced world.

A gentle invitation to pause, understand what's unfolding within, and realign with what truly matters.

The talk will be followed by an audience Q&A.

Presented by:

Nirvikalpa Integrated Therapy Foundation
Founded by Dr. Shyam Bhat, the Nirvikalpa Integrated Therapy Foundation blends India's philosophical and psychological wisdom with modern Western science to create a rigorous, evidence-based therapeutic model grounded in non-duality and transcendence. The foundation conducts scientific research, develops therapist-training programs, and shares integrative mental-health insights with the public. Its work aims to build a culturally rooted, systematic approach to therapy that strengthens resilience, deepens connection, and supports collective well-being.

NIRVIKALPA

In this episode of BIC Talks, Shyam Bhat delivers a talk. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Dec 2025.

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What is the Indian reader willing to pay for, and what do they expect for free?

This panel moves past the familiar lament and into the mechanics of the business. They explore what it actually takes to run a news organisation outside the influence of advertisers, owners, and the state. Subscription models, donor funding, collaborative structures, and open access: each approach comes with its own compromises, its own pressures, and its own relationship with the reader.

The conversation will examine how different kinds of journalism, from daily news to long-form investigation and data-driven research, demand different economic answers. Can advertising coexist with independence? And how are newsrooms absorbing the growing financial and legal burden of independent reporting?

Independent journalism in India is alive. What it costs to keep it that way is another matter entirely.

In this episode of BIC Talks, Dhanya Rajendran, Sunil Rajshekhar, Samar Halarnka, Rashmi Koti and Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jan 2026.

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Madhav Gadgil (1942-2026) was the country's pre-eminent ecologist, whose work and writing had a profound influence in shaping environmental policy and action in India. Educated in Pune, Mumbai and Harvard, Professor Gadgil spent more than three decades at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, where he founded the Centre for Ecological Sciences.

In the course of his rich and varied career Professor Gadgil conducted fieldwork in most of India's states, acquiring an unparalleled knowledge of the country's cultural and ecological diversity. He authored numerous scientific papers that became 'citation classics', and pioneering books on environmental history that are still discussed decades after their publication. He was widely known for the report of a committee on the Western Ghats that he chaired, which presciently warned of the ecological disasters that would follow unregulated mining, tourism and road construction in this vital mountain ecosystem.

The Bangalore International Centre shall celebrate Madhav Gadgil's life and legacy in a special memorial meeting held on 26th January. The date is appropriate; for Professor Gadgil himself had a deeply democratic sensibility, and embodied in his person the finest values of the Indian Republic. The speakers are two scientists, two economists, a journalist and a historian, all of whom knew Professor Gadgil and his work well.

In this episode of BIC Talks, Harini Nagendra, Gurudas Nulkar, John Kurien, Nagesh Hegde, Uma Ramakrishnan will be in conversation with Ramachandra Guha. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jan 2026.

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Narratives illuminate what often lies just out of sight.

In this exciting conversation, Amitav Ghosh discusses his latest book, Ghost-Eye, with writer Anjum Hasan, tracing the hidden histories and environmental undercurrents that shape human lives. Moving between folklore and the contemporary world, the discussion explores how landscapes remember, how ecological forces linger beneath the visible, and how storytelling can recover what modern life trains us to ignore.

Hasan's thoughtful questioning bring out the novel's deeper concerns: the fragile relationship between people and place, the quiet violence of erasure, and the role of curiosity in resisting indifference. Together, they reflect on how narrative can sharpen our awareness of a planet in flux, and why attentiveness to history, to ecology, and to the unseen, matters now more than ever.

A chance to hear directly from one of the most compelling literary voices about the inspirations behind his work and the urgent questions it raises.

Presented by:

Bangalore Literature Festival, Harper Collins

In this episode of BIC Talks, Amitav Ghosh in conversation with Anjum Hasan. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jan 2026.

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BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.